Accounting Giants To Merger Firms

The real estate accounting specialist Kenneth Leventhal & Co. will merge June 1 with the giant accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP, the firms announced Monday.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Kenneth Leventhal, based in Los Angeles, and the real estate practice of New York-based Ernst & Young will become the E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group, to be headed by Leventhal’s managing partner, Stan Ross. Ross also will become vice chairman of Ernst & Young.

In an interview, Ross said Ernst & Young’s real estate business is tops among the “Big Six” accounting firms.

He said the merged operation will be able to offer comprehensive accounting and consulting services to the real estate and development industries.

In a statement, Ernst Chairman Philip A. Laskawy praised Leventhal’s real estate expertise, saying it will help the company in an industry “that we have targeted for significant growth.”